Scanners are becoming increasingly useful tools in the modern office. They provide a fast and relatively efficient means for converting, for example, a printed document into an electronic version of the image. The captured electronic image can then be converted into text by software performing the process known as Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Limitations do, however, exist and documents that are subjected to the OCR process after scanning into a PC have to be closely checked by users for accuracy, despite recent advances in the technology.
Voice recognition software is also becoming more common and allows users to dictate text directly into a PC, which attempts automatically to convert the spoken words into an electronic version of the text. As with scanners, however, the voice recognition software available at present is limited in its usefulness, primarily because it is not yet sophisticated or intelligent enough to be able to eliminate errors.
Natural language processing systems aim to process text that is spoken or typed by a user in their native tongue and has to be translated either to another human language or to a machine-understood language (for the purpose of acting upon spoken commands). No effective way has yet been found to achieve this goal. Current systems achieve tolerable results by restricting the text that is recognised or severely restricting the area of conversation, or both.
An object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for providing corrected interpretations of electronic signals to users, which system and method are simple and cheap to implement, but highly effective. These interpretations may be the text that is present on the electronic image of a page; the text that is present in the electronic version of a sound; the meaning of a command that is present in an electronic version of a sound or text or a conclusion from a set of presented facts.
Various aspects of the present invention are defined in the accompanying independent claims. Some preferred features are defined in the dependent claims.